Babe Ruth And Baseball : The Relationship Between Sports And Society

Spalding’s World Baseball Tour laid the roots of the new empire and exemplified the United States onto the world stage. It highlighted our country’s economic growth, the search for overseas markets, improvements in communication and transportation, and the rising cultural interactions. Thomas Zeiler’s main emphasis is on the baseball players and their entourage as “tourists” who helped disperse American culture abroad and brought global influences back to their homelands. Thomas Zeiler concluded that because of the immense impact of the World Tour, it was the process of globalization of baseball that laid the structure of the growing American identity. Baseball was used to sell and export the American way. The game associated itself with the values of the American dream. In America’s foreign diplomacy, baseball was used to promote patriotism and nationalism.

Off the field Ruth reveled in his celebrity status, enjoying a wild and extravagant life. However, his high living and headstrong behavior eventually began to take a toll on his performance. He was still baseball’s premier player but fellow teammate and newcomer Lou Gehrig started to show signs of greatness

Like the bald eagle, baseball has become an icon for the term “American”. It was the nation’s first major sport and quickly was coined America’s pastime. It was created from a combination of other games during the 1840’s and became increasingly popular during the years of the Civil War (Brinkley 392). In their

George Herman Ruth, better known as Babe Ruth, is an American baseball hero due to his successes that have allowed him to become a household name even after his passing. His great legacy lives on, but for those not alive during his reign over baseball, it is sometimes hard to grasp the Babe’s true life story, which is where film comes into play. In the several films about Babe Ruth, many differentiating perspectives about his life are introduced. In The Babe Ruth Story (1948) and The Babe (1992), we are shown two very different versions of the ‘Great Bambino’. With the help of Ardolino’s analysis of the deification and deconstruction of Ruth in Reel Baseball, it is easy to see the similarities and differences between the two Hollywood Babes. Ardolino states that, “In fact, these movies are dialectically related: the first is an attempt to sacralize Ruth’s checkered life, and the latter is an attempt to replace the hagiography with a Dickensian psychodrama of a bumbling Bacchus who belches, farts, indulges his appetites, is haunted by his past, explodes irrationally when he is called ‘incorrigible’ and never gains any measure of self-control” (115-16). Ardolino’s chapter thoroughly discussed the portrayals of Babe Ruth as a character, which brings to light the similarities and differences portrayed in both Hollywood films. After screening the Hollywood films, we move to screen the documentary about Ruth, a blatant deification, which treats his life story much differently.

     "Over the decades, African American teams played 445-recorded games against white teams, winning sixty-one percent of them." (Conrads, pg.8) The Negro Leagues were an alternative baseball group for African American baseball player that were denied the right to play with the white baseball payers in the Major League Baseball Association. In 1920, the first African American League was formed, and that paved the way for numerous African American innovation and movements. Fences, and Jackie Robinson: The Biography, raises consciousness about the baseball players that have been overlooked, and the struggle they had to endure simply because of their color.

When the topic of baseball comes up in a conversation, what do you think of? The field, a bat, the ball, or amazing plays, crucial games, and game winning performances. What about American history? Does World War II come to mind; most likely not. According to an article called “Food for Thought: Baseball and American History,” John P. Rossi quotes Jacques Barzun saying, “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.” Negro League Baseball can be used to shed light on the historical experience of African American’s in the United States.

In the biography Jackie Robinson and the American Dilemma by John R. M. Wilson, it tells the story of racial injustice done after world war II and explains how Jackie Robinson was pioneer of better race relations in the United States. The obstacles Jackie Robinson overcame were amazing, he had the responsibility to convert the institutions, customs, and attitudes that had defined race relations in the United States. Seldom has history ever placed so much of a strain on one person. I am addressing the importance of Jackie Robinson’s trials and triumphs to American racial dynamics in the post war period to show how Robinson was a prominent figure in the civil rights movement and brought baseball fans together regardless of race.

Baseball in the 19th century was both an extracurricular activity and a cathartic activity for American society that suffered from the demands of industrialism. In order to better understand the sociological perspective of baseball in relation to the social context of its’ origination, this paper will consider baseball in the context of Max Weber’s theories about status and social stratification. Although his theories are seemingly similar to Karl Marx, their theories are essentially different. Marx primarily believes that economics and class are distinguishing factors of society; whereas, Weber believes that status and social stratification are the distinguishing factors of society.

In 1839 Americas soon to be favorite past time was invented right here in New York, Baseball. Baseball whether you like the game or not, has weaved itself deeply into our culture and isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. There are countless movies, articles, songs, playing cards, bobble heads, merchandise and books all made about baseball. The players are often idolized by children and adults alike. Baseball in our country was and still is a huge topic of discussion, whose batting average is higher, which team is better, is someone cheating. Troy Maxson like many American’s knows a lot about baseball like how striking out is bad and homeruns are how you win but there are things about baseball that Troy doesn’t know. The article, Walking Around the Fences: Troy Maxson and the Ideology of “Going Down Swinging”, written by David Letzler. Letzler Delves into the ideology of batting and walks in baseball in explanation of the main character Troy Maxson of August Willison’s play Fences, and his thought process of going down swinging and Troy’s thoughts on some of the major league players of that time.

Babe Ruth was born on February 6th, 1895 in Baltimore, Maryland. He played in ten World Series. Babe Ruth had a .342 batting average. Throughout his baseball career, he hit 714 homeruns. Babe Ruth played in a total of 2,503 games.

When Babe payed his last game in 1935, fans hearts broke. Their beloved slugger, Babe Ruth, just played his last game and went out in a bang hitting three home runs. A week after that he finalized his retirement and moved on with his life, baseball still included. In 1938 he became the coach for the Brooklyn Dodgers, but shockingly enough he never fulfilled his dream to manage a team, but life is a game, you win some and you lose some which Babe knew. On August 16, 1948 Babe passed away from cancer, leaving behind his wife and his daughters, Julia and Dorothy, and the best legacy one could wish for.

The hustle to crush Babe Ruth’s superiorly high home run record uncovered that the great baseball community was very distant from becoming completely eradicated of the racism that was based in it. Lots of fan mail overflowed in the baseball clubs’ offices, around 4,000 letters a day were delivered for the covenant Hank. Most people wrote to tell him congratulations, but many others were in a state of dismay that a African American man was intending to break the most sanctified record in baseball. Threats to kill Hank were a huge portion of the letters that he had received.

Babe Ruth; His Story in Baseball is written by Lee Allen. George Herman Ruth Jr. was born on February 6, 1895. Ruth was raised in the small town of Baltimore, Maryland. His family was always on the short hand with money. He had 8 siblings, but two of them survived infancy. and his parents’ names were Kate Schamberger-Ruth and George Herman Ruth Sr. Ruth was always being a trouble-maker. So, at age 7, Ruth was sent to St. Mary's Industrial School for Boys, a Catholic orphanage and reformatory. In the next 12 years he was there George became connected to baseball. At age 19 is when the young teen’s dream came to life. He was signed to the Baltimore Orioles minor league team. The nickname “Babe” was given to him when he was signed because the Orioles manager, Jack Dunn, became George’s legal guardian.

Babe Ruth was a famous baseball player from the time he was born up until a couple years before he died. He was born on February 6,1895, in Maryland, Baltimore and his maiden name is George Herman Ruth, Jr., he was one of eight kids but only two live the rest died when they were an infant. In August 16,1948 New York City, New York, George died leaving his estate to the Babe Ruth Foundation for Underprivileged Children. His family buried him at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery, Hawthorne, NY.  He survived by his second wife and his two daughters. He has two kids name Dorothy and Julia Ruth, and two spouse Helen Ruth (m. 1914-1929) and remarried a couple months later too Claire Merritt Ruth (m.1929-1948). George had many nicknames

Babe Ruth, through the brilliance of his performance and the force of his personality almost single-handedly transformed the game of baseball. He began his career as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and proved to be an excellent hurler. Ruth’s hitting was also impressive—especially his power hitting—and the team began to use him to their advantage in the outfield on days that he was not scheduled to pitch.